NIST FY 1995 Funding Bill Passes House and Senate

The conference report on H.R. 4603, the Commerce, Justice, and State Appropriations bill for FY 1995, was passed by the House on August 18, and by the Senate the following day. This bill funds the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is an agency of the Commerce Department. While not quite attaining the stratospheric 79.7 percent increase requested by the Administration, the conference report provides NIST with a total of $854.7 million, a 64.3 percent increase over the 1994 appropriation. It will now be sent to President Clinton to be signed into law.

NIST funding includes its core intramural programs, entitled “Scientific and Technical Research and Services,” performed in-house at the NIST labs in Maryland and Colorado; construction and renovation of those facilities; and extramural outreach programs designed to support U.S. industry. The conference report funding recommendations for NIST are provided below (in millions of dollars):

Selected quotes from the conference report language are provided below:

INTRAMURAL: “The amount provided in the conference agreement fully funds the adjusted base program for this account, and provides an additional $39,000,000 for program enhancements. Within this increase, the conferees agree that $5,000,000 is for the international trade and standards program and $7,000,000 is for environmental technologies. The conferees expect NIST and the Department of Commerce to submit a reprogramming notification to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees...” This notification will provide NIST’s spending plan for its in-house activities for FY 1995, including its physics and materials sciences programs.

EXTRAMURAL: “The conferees support the efforts of NIST to promote the awareness of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) throughout industry, particularly among small businesses and in geographically dispersed areas. The conferees also support the language included under the manufacturing extension partnership (MEP) program in both the House and Senate reports regarding the needs of rural areas and other areas serviced by geographically dispersed manufacturers.”